WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Wednesday approved a bill championed by U.S. Rep. Jared Polis that would force government agencies to get a warrant to search emails older than six months and stored on third-party servers, such as gmail.

More than 300 members of the House co-sponsored the measure, which passed by unanimous vote. Its purpose is to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, which did not address warrants for emails older than six months.

“This bill will protect people who have Google, Yahoo or other email accounts and make sure that the government can’t warrantlessly search old emails,” said Polis, D-Boulder, in prepared remarks. “Updating the law to align the digital and the physical world has taken too long, but today is a major step forward.”

The next step in the legislative process is getting the bill through the Senate, where it already has attracted bipartisan support. A companion measure has nearly 30 co-sponsors, including U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo.

Three top Democratic superdelegates in Colorado are facing pressure to support Bernie Sanders after he easily won the state’s presidential preference poll, but all are remaining committed to Hillary Clinton.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, Gov. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Rep. Jared Polis all faced questions in recent days about who they will support at the Democratic National Convention in July.

Polis — who represents Boulder, an area that went big for Sanders — received a note with his takeout order Sunday at Native Foods Cafe that read: “Dear Congressman Polis, the constituency has spoken. Use your power wisely. Feel the Bern.”

Hickenlooper continues to face questions and has said repeatedly he will stick with Clinton. “The voters elected me to use my judgment to make decisions,” Hickenlooper told Colorado Public Radio in his most recent comment on the issue. “I can’t imagine changing where I stand.”

Bennet felt the pressure last week after a speech at the University of Denver law school. A member of the audience urged him to support Sanders.

Bennet didn’t budge.

“I am supporting Hillary Clinton, because I think that she will be ready to take the job the day she’s in the job,” he told the audience. “I’ve worked with Bernie for years in the Senate and I share very much his emphasis on income inequality and the importance of dealing with this if we’re going to have a democracy and an economy that we’re going to recognize in the 21st century.”

WASHINGTON — Among the invited guests at Tuesday night’s State of the Union address are five Coloradans with a wide range of life experiences — each brought to the speech by a Colorado lawmaker for a different reason.

They include an imam from the Denver area, a 12-year-old activist with cerebral palsy, a former Denver mayor, the mother of one of the victims of the 2012 Aurora movie shooting and the father of a combat veteran who killed himself.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, is bringing Imam ShemsAdeen Ben Masaud of the Metropolitan Denver-North Islamic Center (Masjid Ikhlas) as a “show of solidarity with our Islamic communities … to show that we are all together as Americans.”

She said she was compelled to do so because of “some of the rhetoric that we’ve seen against Muslim Americans.”

The move mirrors actions taken by other congressional Democrats, who have made a point of bringing Muslim guests as a way to counter anti-Islamic statements and policies that have been espoused by politicians such as Donald Trump.

Added Ben Masaud: “During this time of heightened rhetoric … we are going to take this chance to really work together and see how we can come together.”

Jeff Edelman was invited to the address by U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora. Edelman’s son Ethan, a combat veteran, committed suicide on Veterans Day last year. According to Coffman’s office, Ethan Edelman graduated from Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch and then enlisted in the Army.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Jared Polis bucked the White House and most of his party on Thursday when the Boulder Democrat voted with 242 Republicans and just 47 Democrats to pass a bill that takes aim at security requirements for Iraqis and Syrians seeking refuge in the U.S.

The measure, nicknamed the SAFE Act, would add a new layer of vetting for refugees from those countries, both of which have been terrorized by violence fueled by the Islamic State or ISIS. Notably the legislation forces the FBI to certify to intelligence officials and Homeland Security that each refugee has “received a background investigation that is sufficient to determine whether the covered alien is a threat to the security of the United States,” according to the bill.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday threatened to veto the measure and the legislation has taken fire from traditional Democratic allies such as the ACLU. In a statement, administration officials argued the bill “would introduce unnecessary and impractical requirements that would unacceptably hamper our efforts to assist some of the most vulnerable people in the world.”

The two other Colorado Democrats in the House — Ed Perlmutter and Diana DeGette — voted against the bill. In a press release, Perlmutter described the current vetting system as “one of the most robust and extensive in the world.” As part of its opposition to the measure, the White House has noted that nearly 2,200 Syrian refugees have been admitted to the U.S. since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and that “not a single one has been arrested or deported on terrorism-related grounds.”

In an interview, Polis said he understood the administration’s arguments against the bill but was unconvinced.

Colorado’s Democratic representatives in the U.S. House have low expectations from Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate in Boulder.

Reps. Diana DeGette of Denver, Ed Perlmutter of Arvada and Jared Polis of Boulder held a conference call with reporters Monday to talk up Democratic ideas and talk down what they expect to hear when the GOP field rolls into Boulder.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock on Monday makes the opening statement to the Colorado Economic Development Commission to start Denver’s presentation for its request for a Regional Tourism Act award to help build the National Western Center project. (Brent Lewis, The Denver Post)

Well-heeled benefactors have joined consultants, construction contractors, unions and other interests in donating more than $1.5 million to campaigns in support of three big Denver ballot measures this fall.

All three are backed by Mayor Michael Hancock, and prominent public affairs firms are involved with campaigns that are running ads or otherwise developing messaging in support of them. The donors include consultants and other interests that are getting fees from the campaigns now or could potentially benefit from new construction projects if Denver voters approve the three ballot measures Nov. 3. (For example, the organization that puts on the National Western Stock Show at the site now.)

The lion’s share — nearly $1.2 million — has gone to the one that got the earliest start, the “Smart Deal for Denver” campaign. It’s building support for tourist tax extensions that would help repay bonds for the city-backed National Western Center redevelopment project and a convention center expansion.

Summit County Commissioner Dan Gibbs, a former state senator, testified in a congressional hearing Tuesday about federal management of national forests.

Summit County Commissioner Dan Gibbs testified to a congressional subcommittee in Washington Tuesday about managing national forests. The Republican-led hearing sought to show how local and state governments do a better job taking care of local forests than the U.S. Forest Service.

“We’re here to answer the question why our federal forests are in such poor condition, while forests managed by states, localities, tribes and private parties are healthy and thriving,” said the committee’s chairman, Rep. Tom McClintock of California.

Gibbs had a simple answer: money, specifically the ever-dwindling amount given to the U.S. Forest Service, and even that allocation is sometimes siphoned off to fight wildfires in other states.

House Speaker John Boehner will campaign in Denver Tuesday for U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora. (Pete Marovich/Bloomberg )

WASHINGTON — Colorado’s three U.S. House Democrats joined with about 120 of their party colleagues this week in asking that Speaker John Boehner keep the lower chamber in session — every day — until a deal is reached to avert a government shutdown.

The request from Reps. Diana DeGette, Ed Perlmutter and Jared Polis comes just days before an Oct. 1 deadline in which Congress and the White House must agree to a stopgap spending bill or else close down federal agencies.

It also comes at a time when both Democrats and Republicans are jockeying to gain the political high ground in the event the two sides can’t come to an agreement — a growing possibility given the stark division between the parties on whether the temporary funding measure should include money for Planned Parenthood.

“The American people deserve to know that their elected representatives are working around the clock to avoid another self-inflicted Washington wound on our national and local economies,” wrote the lawmakers to Boehner. “As the Speaker of the House, you have the power to change the legislative calendar. We strongly urge you to keep the House of Representatives in session every day from now until we reach a deal.”

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis has tens of millions of dollars to his name, but he doesn’t have a clue about how to dress himself, media sources have noted over the years. That’s why NINOX, a Boulder-based designer menswear company, stepped in.

Polis showed up to get his NINOX makeover dressed like your dad at a middle school band concert. He left looking like an international playboy.

Last year GQ magazine wrote about a Twitter picture of Polis on the House floor: “Worst ever? Yeah, right, how bad could it possiblyyyyyeeesh, okay, yeah, now that I look at it. Definitely. Is that a purple golf polo? With a bow tie? Is that a clip-on? Did Craig Sager win a seat somewhere? Am I having a seizure? Can someone make it stop?”

The Democrats beat the Republicans by a score of 5-2. Chipping in for the victory was U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder. According to his office, he sacrificed for an RBI in his first-at-bat, got on board on an error the next time and then doubled for an RBI on his third trip to the plate.

President Barack Obama also showed up — in a rare appearance for a sitting president. It’s Washington, so obviously there’s some business involved somehow (the game was the day before a critical vote on trade). But Obama still found time to pose with lawmakers.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.